Cassette 8: Winter 1997-98/Transcript
This is the official transcript for the episode which can also be accessed for free at'' patreon.com/withinthewires'' SIDE A First the good news, I have word from Jure that three board members of his company, KR Development, have earned congressional seats in the Societal Council. I do not wish to imply that we should care about such things as government. Oh. That's not right. We absolutely should care. I have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles in the past 3 years growing the reach of the Cradle, and Jure has been behind me, providing me with information, vehicles, clothing, food, and in extreme cases weapons. It is not a safe world, Sigrid, and we can choose to hide from it, or we can choose to fight it. I have long believed there were these two paths for us, and the former was the wiser. When I was young, your grandmother Brigette told me again and again that we must stay hidden. That the cost of our happiness, our peace, our very lives was that we must keep them all concealed. Her priority for me, for all of us, was to create a community where we could live safely, without need for or censure from anyone else. It was a beautiful dream. But there are those within The Cradle that argue that this peace we have, in concealment, is insufficient. Some believe we should not have to live life in this way, that we should fight openly for our right to make our own choices for our families. Others believe that the world has gone astray and it is the role of all who see the truth to serve as a guiding light to the lost. That is a profound calling. After all, when you view things from a broader lens, when you consider the fate of the world, what is our purpose if not to change it? But I have come to believe that there is a third path. We can join the world. This sounds like a violation of everything we have believed in - family, independence, nature - but that is only true if we are not ourselves true. Jure has told me about his company’s interest in studying natural families. The Council has expressly forbade such activity, so the company – KR Development – has funded an Institute on the American Continent, and paid hefty fees to keep The Council’s eyes away from it. As fate would have it, it’s the very facility that erased his parents from his life. The Institute was, for so long, a place of grueling physical and psychological experiments meant to break families apart, to quash tribalism and reprogram violent offenders. It is a terrible terrible place, but under Jure's supervision, the Institute has grown into a place of research and study, a gentler facility that merely wants to understand how groups like ours can fit into the Society's tyrannical rules against nature. There is money in Jure's plans for us, yes, but above all, there is safety – and there is freedom. If his company's support can move the Society toward a softer view of The Cradle, then we can be rid of police violence. The Cradle is a dream, an altruism, a dogma, a family, a religion, but it is also a viable company, franchised across the globe. This growth did not happen because of some greedy impulse to corner a market. It happened because people need us. They need guidance and support. They need protection and security. And above all they need their children. They need fresh air and food. They need nature. A franchise is just a word for businesspeople and bureaucrats to understand that we are solid. We are organized. We are a movement. It proves we can be one with Society even as we live outside of it. You haven't even heard me say these words yet, Sigrid, and I can already sense you sighing. You do that a lot, you know. Sigh in the middle of someone else talking. You blow breath out your nose in this exasperated puff, and your lips tighten. You do that a lot. I've always meant to tell you that, and I guess now I am. Anyway, I can sense you doing that right now, and if that's true, I ask you to stop. I can tell from your tapes that you're unhappy with the way things are going in Hedmark. It sounds like you're displeased with me as well, that I'm not there to better guide the family through The Hand. That's why I've sent you lesson plans to help focus the teachings from the book. It's a common practice in most religious organizations to have a weekly lesson, to center the following on a core message. If you're having difficulty reaching our following, getting them to follow you, then I suggest staying close to that lesson plan. I think that will help you a lot. I love you very much, and I'm so proud of you. I would never let you fail, Sigrid. Just follow the plans, okay? And now the bad news, and this is very bad news, Sigrid. For all of the inroads we are making for acceptance within the Society, it is important that we keep a slow pace. What we are doing in Hedmark - and everywhere else there is a Cradle - is still illegal. It is a prison sentence, if we are lucky. And if we are raided – well, raids are often death sentences without judge or jury. Because many of us do not have identification cards, we do not exist in the eyes of the law. So it is sometimes easier for IID to dispose of us than to process us in their system. People do not know we are here, so they would never know if we had been killed. You know this. This is our world. And it will change. It might take decades, but it will change. I promise you. But it cannot change if someone is forcing the pace. Rather, that could set us back by years. Jure thinks someone within The Cradle is undermining our efforts. Recordings of my sermons to the Hedmark flock have made their way into the hands of Western European police. They apparently have a copy of my book as well. Someone inside our camp is feeding information to the authorities, letting them build a case against us. The best I can hope for is an overzealous follower who thinks the progress we have made within the Cradle should be moving more quickly. Perhaps they're giving information to reporters or friends who have given them to police. But I think this is something much more sinister. Someone from the Society is in Hedmark, Sigrid. Someone who means us harm. And they may have been there for quite some time. Long enough to seem like a true member of our family. As much as I am trying to peacefully bring us legal recognition, the Society remains our enemy, a fox who would love nothing more than to gnaw through the chicken wire at its weakest point. We must find this person. If this involves searching personal belongings, fine. If it involves inquisitions, yes, do that. Whatever it takes, Sigrid. Unless, of course... No. I'm sorry. laughs Sigrid, I trust you more than anyone in this world. You are my daughter. My love. My life. I know you can do this for me. For the Cradle, and for goodness' sake, for yourself. I believe in you, Sigrid. So much. You would never let me down. I'm sure of it. Because we are family. I love you. ### SIDE B My faithful. My family. I greet you from the Gulf of Mexico, in a town called Corpus Christi. This usually placid coastline remains ravaged by a late season hurricane. The stony beaches are strewn with splintered wood planks and rotted fish. I would like to paint you a friendlier picture, but nature does not always provide beauty, and the beauty she does provide, on most occasions, is purely her own. So I will not ask more of her on this day. She has brought me seagulls and a sunrise over the water, and for this I am grateful. The Cradle of Port Aransas evacuated before the high tides and heavy winds hit, before the tornadoes tore apart their huts and cabin. And today the survivors - they lost two of their sons in the storms, I am sad to say - are starving, without clothes or clean water. They could find no comfort in calamity – but I am taking care of that, of course. Just an hour ago I received a phone call telling me that a truck is on its way from Houston, a truck full of food, clothing, water, building materials and tools. Book 6, Section 7 of The Hand tells you that "In tumult there is always comfort." It sometimes hides from us, sometimes is invisible to our eyes, but why should seeing be our only source of information. Here on this dirty, debris-filled beach, I smell salt and kelp. I feel foaming shallow waves on my bare feet. I hear the soft noise of cool breeze against the rocks. I taste the sweet coat of honey from my morning tea. There is comfort in everything. We must simply find it. Comfort is within us all. Comfort is within each of our five senses, within each of our trillions of cells. Comfort is within a cargo truck headed southwest on Highway 59. Comfort is within other people. Within me, and you. I know there is comfort in leadership, in a parent. I am your mother, of course, and perhaps many of you are feeling abandoned, feeling the anxiety of separation from your nurturer. I will never abandon you, for you are my children. You are my life. My only loves in the world. But I have many more children now, all of whom I love equally. And there is only one of me on one giant earth in one tiny timeline to share it all. Believe me. I love you. Believe IN me. I love you. Believe that I am with you even when I am not. Believe as I believe. I believe in you, too. I believe in our task. Oh yes, my children, we have a task, and in this task I may die. We have a task to grow The Cradle, to show ourselves and eventually the world just how powerful we are. Powerful of spirit. Powerful of soul. Powerful of the bonds of family. Powerful of leadership. Powerful of motherhood. My voice must be heard, and if that is through your actions rather than my mouth, then it will feel all the more powerful to the Society. Journalists are reporting about The Cradle. They are telling our story, mostly with facts rather than truth. They are identifying our locations. They are describing us as dangerous, as feral, as lunatics. All because we love our children and our parents. All because we love our nature. Our nature, both within and without. The boldness of the American franchises, making their cable television videos, has drawn great focus to our cause, and I forthrightly admit to being wrong. This attention endangers us, yes, but it also makes us stronger, more viable as an organization. A time will come when my labor produces peace for the Cradle, an accepting Society, ready to welcome us into our own place in their hegemony. But before that happens there may be a time when their fears, their disgust for us, their prejudices lead them to attack, to try to imprison us, to kill us, or worst of all, to break us. Our task is to be prepared. I offer you comfort from across an ocean. I offer you my faith in your abilities. I give you my life, as I would give my life to any child of mine in this world. I cannot bring back the two boys in Galveston - Jaime and Raja - but if it were possible I would trade myself for them. Before I go I must leave you with a word of warning. Not for you – you are perfectly safe. But I fear that I am not, and I would like to make sure you are prepared for whatever may happen to me. Jure has told me that The Council has been more aware of my movements than we had previously supposed. He tells me they may be preparing to move against me. Of course I am prepared for these kinds of eventualities. I am always prepared, as I know all of you are. This is how we live. We must all be ever prepared for violence. We must all be ever prepared for loss. There is comfort in readiness. There is comfort in family togetherness. There is comfort in everything. I ask that you find it in this task. I am fighting for all of The Cradles around the world. I place myself in great peril by doing so, because I am your mother. I will give my life for each and every one of you, so that we all may be free, so that we all may be safe. So that we all may feel comfort in family. Please do not fear for me, for I have prepared myself for death, as we all must. But in my death, know that I will have life. My love of my daughter, Sigrid. My love of you, my Hedmark children, will keep me alive. It will bring me back from any death the Society could cause. They can break my neck, burn my skin, imprison my body, stop my heart, but it is love, my love of you Sigrid, and all of you, my children, that will bring me back. Believe in me. I believe in you. We are family. We are comfort. And nothing and no one can overwhelm the strength of our love. Category:Transcripts